N.S. firm ships cranberries to U.K.

By BILL POWER BUSINESS REPORTERPublished December 20, 2012 - 7:12pm Last Updated December 20, 2012 - 9:26pm

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Huge loads of Lunenburg berries en route

Evelyn Ernst of Terra Beata Cranberry Farm in Lunenburg is toasting a new deal the producer signed with a UK company. (DEVAAN INGRAHAM)

Somewhere out on the North Atlantic a couple of container loads of frozen cranberries from Terra Beata Cranberry Farm in Lunenburg were making their way to the United Kingdom on Thursday.

Each refrigerated container holds about 21,600 kilograms of cranberries. It is the final part of an order for five container loads the Lunenburg company shipped this fall to Foodnet Ltd., in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, near London.

“They were looking for a supplier to move forward with, and we expect this is the beginning of a long-term relationship,” Evelyn Ernst, a co-owner in the business, said in an interview.

Foodnet is an international frozen food trading and production company that connected with the folks at Terra Beata in March during a U.K. trade mission the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency sponsored.

Paperwork for the first order to the company arrived shortly after the trade mission, said Ernst.

“There was some back-and-forth on paperwork relating to food-quality standards, and this has all been straightened away,” she said.

The shipping process to Foodnet and to other U.K. buyers will be streamlined next year after the company receives a food-quality certification through the British Retail Consortium.

“This is to satisfy the demand of European customer for product that meets the very highest food-quality standards,” said Ernst.

The order for five container loads of frozen cranberries was not out of the ordinary for Terra Beata.

About 90 per cent of the more than 2,250,000 kilograms of cranberries handled at the Lunenburg processing plant, and another in New Brunswick, ship to Europe via the Port of Halifax, said Ernst.

The business employees about 30 people and buys cranberries from about 25 farms in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Ernst said the Amersham headquarters of Foodnet she visited during the trade mission is an intriguing place to visit.

The ultra-sophisticated, international business operates out of the historic Old Grammar School building that dates back to the 15th century.